Bat Country
by Jazzilla
Summary: What should have been a well earned vacation for Soldier and Sniper ends up turning in to a desperate fight for dear life. One Shot.


This short story was inspired by a picture made in gmod that i found on google. Hope you enjoy.

**Bat Country**

A lone pick up truck with the word BLU painted on the door rolled along the seemingly empty highway that stretched for miles and miles across the open deserts of California. Sniper and Soldier were sitting up front listening to some great jazz music. One week a year each member of both RED and BLU were released for vacation time. They could choose to spend this either alone or with another member of the team. Sniper and Soldier were good friends, and they were headed for an Oasis/Hotel out in Death Valley.

Soldier drove the truck while Sniper sat a seat away with his feet kicked up on the dash. They were required to wear their uniforms at all times, even on vacation, but they didn't mind.

"Turn it up a bit mate." Sniper said to his team mate.

Soldier reached down to the knob on the radio and turned the volume up so it blared out of the open windows.

"Alright, I did you a favor, now you do me one. Get the map out of the glove compartment and see how much farther we have to go." Soldier ordered.

Sniper reluctantly opened the glove compartment and pulled the folded map out. He unfolded it and ran his finger across it until he found the road they were travelling. As soon as his finger rested on a fork they would be coming up on, the map blew right out of his hands and out the window.

"Damn it Sniper, you lost the map!" Soldier shouted without taking his eyes off the road.

Sniper leaned out the window and looked back at the map drifting on the wind. "Sorry mate." he responded.

"Never mind, I'm sure this road goes in a straight line up to the hotel." Soldier growled.

Sniper leaned back in his seat and placed his hat over his face. "Tell me when we get there." he said under his hat. He then closed his eyes and drifted off.

His eyes suddenly jolted open when Soldier shook him. "Hey, there's a junction up ahead with no signs. You wouldn't happen to remember which way we need to go do you?" he asked.

Sniper thought long and hard. "I think we need to go left. Yeah, go left." he lied. Truth was he really had no idea where they had to go, but he hoped he guessed right.

When they came upon the junction Soldier took the left route which headed towards a narrow canyon. They drove through the canyon for some time, and when they emerged on the other side, the sun had nearly gone down, and they could make out dark clouds rolling in.

"That's strange. It usually never rains out here." Soldier commented as he looked up at the sky.

"Just keep driving mate; we should hit the hotel in no time." Sniper said.

About an hour later the clouds had completely covered the evening sky, and a thick fog had rolled in, limiting Soldier's sight to about fifteen feet. He switched on the headlights, but they didn't help much.

Even the environment had changed a bit. A wooden fence now ran along the right side of the road, and dead trees were becoming more frequent, with an occasional large boulder passing by.

"I don't like the looks of this." Soldier said in an uneasy tone.

Sniper looked around the area and started feeling a bit uneasy as well. The two BLUs rolled the windows of the truck up and turned the radio off.

Night soon rolled in, and the fog had now become so thick that Soldier could barely make out the front end of the truck. He pulled off to the side of the road and turned the vehicle off.

"I think it's best we stop here for the night." he said to his comrade.

Sniper agreed and the two of them just sat there in an eerie silence.

They tried their best to get some sleep, but their surroundings made it impossible to do so. Everything looked so threatening under the darkened sky and the two swore they saw something moving out in the thickness of the fog.

"Needadispensahea." a feint voice broke the silence.

Sniper and Soldier looked at each other with fear in their eyes. They then looked forward and couldn't hear anything else.

"Boink!" another fell voice said through the fog.

Sniper's eyes darted around the fog covered landscape in search of something, anything. But all he could make out were feint silhouettes.

Sniper looked over at Soldier, and his face turned ghostly white as a shadowy blue ran past the driver's side of the truck.

"What?" Soldier asked.

"I just saw somethin' run by your side of the truck mate." he whispered.

"Needatelaportahea."

The two averted their gaze to the back end of the truck where the voice had come from, but they saw nothing.

When they turned back towards the front of the truck another shadow whizzed passed, which caused Soldier to squeal like a girl.

"I think it's safe to assume we took a wrong turn." Soldier whispered.

Just then, a shadowy silhouette formed on the edge of the fog. A Scout, or at least what looked like a Scout, came in to view and just stood there, staring.

He looked a little off. His skin was pale, his clothes were torn, and his left arm was missing. His right arm looked to be the size of a Heavy's, and in it he grasped a sizeable wooden bat with a couple of nails sticking out of the top.

As soon as it had come in to view, it darted back in to the fog and vanished.

"What was that?" Soldier asked.

Sniper just shook his head and didn't take his eyes off the spot where the Scout once stood.

Something landed in the bed of the truck, and both Soldier and Sniper didn't want to turn and look. Soldier reached up and adjusted the rear view mirror until he saw the figure standing in the bed of the truck.

It looked to be another Scout, only this one had no mouth and wielded two metal bats in his hands. He attempted to say something, but all that came out were low muffles due to his lack of a mouth.

It jumped from the back of the truck and ran off in to the dark.

Sniper's entire body convulsed uncontrollably from seeing such a horrible thing, and Soldier did the same.

A sudden, low sound caught their ears and they looked around for the source. It grew louder and louder until the two could make out chanting. When it grew even closer the words of the chanting became clear.

It sounded like hundreds of people were shouting BONK over and over again.

"Start the bloody truck!' Sniper shouted.

Soldier fumbled with the keys until he got them in the ignition, and then twisted it to get it started.

The truck chugged a few times before going silent.

The sound of the Bonk's grew closer.

Soldier twisted his wrist again and the truck made the same chugging noises before dying.

"Oh this is bloody brilliant, we're about to be brutally slaughtered by a bunch of mutated freaks and our truck dies!" Sniper yelled irritably.

Soldier gave it one last try, and this time, after the chugging, the engine fired up, and the headlights flared up.

"Yeah!" Soldier shouted as he slammed the steering wheel.

Just as he was about to slam his foot on to the gas pedal multiple Scouts ran in to the side of the truck. And knocked it on to its side.

Soldier helped Sniper out of the overturned truck and the two headed for a tool box in the bed of it.

Soldier used the keys to open it up and inside lay a spare set of weapons. Soldier holstered a shotgun to his back, placed the fold out shovel on his belt, and shouldered his Rocket Launcher.

Sniper took the SMG and placed it on his belt, placed the machete in the sheathe on his back and then took a hold of his trusty Sniper Rifle. More Scouts poured through the fog and Soldier fired a single rocket in to the middle of them and blew them to bits.

"Run, out in to the field!" Soldier ordered, and Sniper turned away and ran.

More Scouts ran at them from their left and Soldier blew them away sending chunks of burnt flesh soaring through the air.

Sniper placed his rifle over his neck and pulled his SMG from his belt. He fired in to the darkness as the incessant Bonks continued and he was sure he took a few of them down.

"Sniper!" Soldier shouted when he noticed a few more Scouts approaching from the front.

Soldier grabbed his shotgun with one hand and fired off into the Scouts. He blew a hole in the first one's chest, then blew the arm off another. The third one jumped at Sniper, who shot it right between the eyes with his rifle.

"Wanker…" he said under his breath.

Soldier felt something grabbed on to his leg, and he looked down to see a Scout with no legs attempting to gnaw on his foot.

"Get off me you maggot!" he shouted and then blew the top of the Scout's head off.

The two BLUs traversed through the field of dead weeds until they eventually came to a sheer cliff face. They were trapped now, with no where to go but back. The continued Bonks told them that wasn't an option though.

Sniper shouldered his rifle and aimed out in to the darkness.

_Blam!_

One of the Scouts fell to the ground as blood spurted out of the back of his head.

_Bang!_

Another Scout met the same fate.

_Bam!_

A third Scout crumpled to the ground.

_Click._

A look of surprise came across Sniper's face. That's right, the spare weapons in the back of the truck only held a sparse amount of ammo.

He threw the rifle to the ground and took his SMG in hand once again.

"How many rockets you got left mate?" he asked his ally.

"Only two, and I've got four more shells in my shotgun." he answered.

"Needadispensaheaneedadispensaheaneedadispensahea!!!" multiple voices shouted from within the fog.

Soldier fired another rocket and sent Scout limbs all over the place. One more rocket left now.

He fired the last rocket at a large group of Scouts, but only took about half of them out.

"Get behind me Sniper!" he ordered, and Sniper followed without hesitation.

Soldier readied his shotgun and waited for the Scouts to get close enough. He took them out two by two until his shotgun eventually clicked empty.

He threw it to the ground and brought out his fold out shovel.

"Get out of here Sniper, I'll distract them ,and you make a run for it." Soldier suggested.

"What? That's bloody suicide mate! I ain't leavin' you behind!" Sniper replied.

Soldier grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close, "That is an order soldier, I outrank you." He then threw him back and turned towards the sound of the oncoming Scouts. "Now run." he said with a grin on his face.

Sniper had no choice but to do as his comrade ordered. He reluctantly turned away from his team mate and made a run for it.

Soldier wore a broad smirk on his face, "You are all maggots, scum sucking fruit baskets!" he yelled as he charged in to the crowd of mutant Scouts.

He screamed at the top of his lungs as he hacked the Scouts limb from limb. Blood poured on to his uniform and it only helped to increase his bloodlust. He lodged his shovel in to a nearby Scouts skull and the head broke off.

Soldier grabbed one of the frags on his bandolier and pulled the pin as the Scouts leapt for him.

A loud explosion caused Sniper to stop dead in his tracks. He looked back and noticed the small outburst of light which was followed by silence.

Sniper took his hat off his head and held it to his chest in respect for his dead comrade.

He soon picked his pace up again when he realized the Scouts were coming for him now. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him and took down the occasional Scout that got too close.

He soon felt like his legs could buckle under his weight at any moment and leaned against a nearby rotting tree.

"BONK!" the Scouts shouted in unison.

Sniper aimed his weapon at them and shouted aloud as his bullets tore through them. Soon through the clip emptied out and he threw the gun at an oncoming Scout, which caused it to stumble to the ground.

He unsheathed his machete and waited.

The Scout they had first seen with the missing arm came running towards him while screaming and hissing.

Sniper pulled his machete wielding arm back and waited for the right moment to strike.

A loud scream rang out over the chill night air, and then all went silent.

The Scout fell to its knees, and then flat on its face. Sniper grinned, but his expression soon changed to a pained one when he felt the sharp pain in his side. He fell to one knee and dropped his machete. Blood poured from his side where the nails at the end of the Scouts bat had made contact.

"Bloody beaut…" Sniper grunted.

He leaned himself up against the tree and placed his machete on his lap and his hat by his side. A cool breeze suddenly picked up and rustled against the brush. Sniper sat there and waited.


End file.
